Chandler Smith (No. 20 Craftsman Toyota) may have been the most dominant driver at the Shore Lunch 200, but his win at Madison was far from easy. He had to wait out a pair of red flags and make a late pass on teammate Michael Self (No. 25 Sinclair Lubricants Toyota) on his way to victory lane. Smith all but ran the table with ARCA’s special awards at Madison, taking each of the driver awards for his No. 20 Venturini Motorsports team.
Smith began the proceedings by posting the fastest time in General Tire Pole Qualifying, winning his third pole award of the season. Smith was among six drivers who broke Alex Bowman’s 2012 track record at Madison in qualifying. The pole was Smith’s third of the season, tying him with Michael Self atop the season leaderboard. Smith and Self are the only drivers to have won multiple General Tire Pole Awards in 2019.
Once the green flag flew, it was all Smith at the front for the first three-quarters of the race. Smith led the first 150 laps of the race, earning him the Valvoline Lap Leader award as well as the Richmond Water Heaters Halfway Leader award. It was the second time this year that Smith was the halfway leader. Only Michael Self has led more races at halfway with four. Smith would go on to lead 166 laps in total, allowing him to regain the lead in the yearly Valvoline Lap Leader standings. Smith has now led 423 laps in 2019, with Self’s 349 laps led marking his closest competition. Fellow Venturini Motorsports stablemate Christian Eckes (No. 15 JBL Audio Toyota) is the only other driver to have led a triple-digit amount of laps this season with 129.
Smith’s win was significantly aided by a timely pit strategy call from crew chief Billy Venturini, who brought Smith down pit road for a two-tire stop just before a red flag for rain came out. Smith’s win from the pole gave Venturini the Cometic Crew Chief of the Race award. Venturini continues to lead the Cometic Crew Chief of the Year standings with 63 points. He holds a sizable advantage over current runner-up Kevin Reed, crew chief of the Venturini-owned No. 15 Toyota with 103 points. Paul Andrews, crew chief of the No. 22 Chad Bryant Racing Ford, is third with 107 points.
Smith continued his reign atop the Sioux Chief Short Track Challenge with his win. It has been a closely contested battle between Smith and Ty Gibbs (No. 18 Monster Energy Toyota) so far this year, but Gibbs made his first misstep of the season at Madison with an eighth-place finish. Gibbs received a black flag on the final restart for changing lanes too soon. Smith now has 1105 points, opening up a 55-point lead over Gibbs with 1050 points. Michael Self trails Gibbs in third with 1030 points.
Smith was named the Bounty Rookie of the Race at Madison. In the Bounty Rookie Challenge standings, Christian Eckes put some ground between himself and second-place Tommy Vigh Jr. (No. 10 Extreme Kleaner Ford) and leads Vigh by eight points. Eckes has been digging himself out of a hole for the last month-and-a-half following an illness that sidelined him at Salem and a last-place finish at Talladega after a crash.
Bret Holmes (No. 23 Holmes II Excavation Chevrolet) maintained his status as the leader in the S&S Volvo Laps Completed standings with a lead-lap finish in fifth at Madison. Holmes has completed 1301 of a possible 1304 laps run this season. Travis Braden (No. 27 MatrixCare/Consonus Ford) bested Holmes by one spot at Madison, finishing fourth, but remains in second in the standings with 1215 laps completed. Joe Graf Jr. (No. 77 Eat Sleep Race Ford) and Tommy Vigh Jr. are a distant third and fourth in the S&S Volvo Laps Completed standings with 1167 and 1072 laps completed, respectively.
The ARCA Menards Series will hit St. Louis on Saturday for the Day to Day Coffee 150 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. This will be the sixth of nine races that make up the General Tire Superspeedway Challenge. The AMS event will serve as the first half of a doubleheader with the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series. MAVTV will carry live television coverage beginning at 7:30 Eastern/6:30 Central. As always, you can access live timing and scoring as well as the live chat for free on ARCAracing.com with an ARCA For Me account.
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